Figure of My Heart
by Harkpad
Summary: Another in the "There is Flattery in Friendship" series of pub night scenes. Tonight the team pries Ianto for information about why he and Jack are fighting.Ianto says they're fighting over one of Jack's exes, and the futility of that gets shown.


**A/N: I forgot I had this one! This is another in the "Flattery in Friendship" series. I hope you like this one! **

**Figure of My Heart**

Tosh sat down at the table in the pub and said quietly to Ianto, "Are you and Jack okay?"

He looked startled, but answered, "Why?"

Tosh leaned into his shoulder, "You've been really quiet this week, and you two seem to be avoiding each other."

Ianto sighed, but didn't answer as Owen and Gwen sat down and handed him his drink. He took a long drink and set his pint down on the table.

"Tosh, you get him to tell you what they're fighting over yet?" Owen said crassly, taking a drink of his own beer.

Gwen slapped him, "Subtle much, Owen?"

Owen rubbed his arm, "Oi, Jack's being a right arsehole this week. He's yelling and ranting and making me clean Weevil cells every time I make a sarcastic comment." He paused for another drink, then continued, "I can't stop being sarcastic, so figure out what's wrong and get Jack to lay off of me, yeah?"

Ianto chuckled, "Serves you right, Owen. Besides, a week without your sarcasm has been practically blissful."

"How's your week without sex treating you, Ianto?" Owen challenged. Ianto's smile fell from his face.

Tosh and Gwen both glared at Owen and he looked down and focused on his drink.

"Ianto, we're just worried about you," Gwen said gently. "You're hiding again."

Ianto sighed, "He's angry with me," and after a pause, "He might be right, but it's not sitting well with me."

Tosh leaned into Ianto's shoulder, "What happened?"

Ianto didn't answer right away, and he took a long drink of his pint, finishing it in record time. He stood, "I'll get the next round." And he walked away.

They all looked at their half-empty glasses and at each other.

"This is going well," Gwen offered.

Tosh leaned back, "We shouldn't press him."

"He doesn't talk to anyone but Jack. Now he's not talking to Jack. We can press him," Owen countered. "He needs it," he added.

Gwen looked over at the bar where Ianto was leaning and waiting on their drinks. "I heard them yelling at each other yesterday."

Tosh looked surprised, "I thought they weren't even talking to each other."

Gwen nodded, "I wouldn't count it as talking. Jack was yelling something about files and privacy, and Ianto swore at him and just walked away from him. It didn't last long."

"Ianto swore at Jack?" Tosh asked.

Gwen nodded, "Yeah. Weird, I know."

"He usually spends his time deferring to Jack," Owen said.

Tosh shook her head, "Not always. Sometimes when I'm there alone with them when I'm working on something, they sound even. You know, Ianto stands up to him."

Gwen nodded, "Jack once told me that Ianto gives as good as he gets when no one's looking."

Owen sighed, "Why does he have to be so fucking enigmatic? If he were a regular bloke I'd just get him drunk and interrogate him."

Tosh and Gwen stared at him. He stared right back and then said, "Oh. Right. Good to know we're all on the same page here."

Ianto came back with drinks and he changed the subject. They talked about redesigning the Weevil spray so that it worked for a longer period of time, they talked about Cardiff Rugby, they talked about Jack's wardrobe, and they drank. After a few more rounds, Ianto's cheeks were flushed.

Owen took a chance, "Okay, mate. Why's he angry with you?"

Ianto laughed into his beer, "Subtle much, Owen?"

Owen sighed, "No. Come on, what the hell did you do to piss him off?"

Ianto leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling of the pub for a good moment. Then he looked back into his glass and said, "I was looking through his files and found something I was curious about, but the file didn't have any good information. So I went and did some research on my own. He found out and told me I was invading his privacy, and I told him I'd been invading his privacy for months and had every right to find out what happened to his ex so it didn't happen to me. Then he told me nothing would happen to me, but I didn't find that reassuring and told him I wanted to know the possibilities. He told me to fuck off if I didn't trust him enough and thought things would go the same way for me." Ianto took another swig of his drink and glared at Owen.

They were all quiet for a moment. Owen broke the silence, "You were digging into one of his exes? Jack's? Ianto, mate, I hate to tell you, but if you worry about _his_ exes then you're not gonna have sex with him ever again 'cause you'll be too busy researching exes."

Tosh added, "Why were you worried about it, Ianto?"

He didn't answer for a moment, and then said, "It doesn't matter. I stopped looking. I just don't want to apologize because I think I do have a right to know about this one. She," He stopped again and took another drink.

Gwen leaned over and rubbed his arm, "You don't have to tell us, Ianto. But Owen's right. If you worry about Jack's past too much, you probably won't be able to see much else. That won't get you anywhere."

Ianto glared at her, "Right. And when I go missing and you all can't find any more records of me, don't go running to Jack, because he won't fucking tell you."

They stared at him. Tosh spoke first, "An ex of his went missing? And he won't tell you why?"

Ianto nodded, "She was a Torchwood agent and she disappeared after she resigned from Torchwood unexpectedly after a particularly nasty run-in with an alien. She wasn't hurt, though. Just resigned and disappeared." He shook his head and added, "Her disappearance didn't have anything to do with the alien incident. Jack was the only one hurt, well, killed. It just followed it. I can't figure out if the two are even related, but it's the last time she worked the field for Torchwood."

Gwen asked, "Were they serious?"

Ianto nodded, "Yeah. They had a flat together. It got sold at the same time."

Tosh offered, "Maybe she didn't know he can't die. Maybe it freaked her out."

"They bought a flat together, Tosh. He would have told her. Besides, they worked together at Torchwood. She had to know. I just wanted to know what happened to her."

Owen set his drink down and asked, "Why?"Gwen, Tosh and Ianto all stared at him. "I'm serious. Why do you want to know? It's not like Jack would have her killed or let anyone else kill her or hurt if they were serious, so it must have been something else. If it's not life threatening, why do you care? It was probably a long time ago."

Ianto nodded, "A while. It was the seventies." He sighed.

Tosh put her arm around him and leaned her head against his. "That's a long time ago. You weren't even born yet."

Ianto sighed and leaned away, "I still want to know what happened."

Gwen laughed, "Ianto. I really want an autobiography of Jack's whole life to answer every question I have about him." She paused for another drink, "I'm not gonna get it."

Owen added, "I'd settle for just the sex parts, but that's me being selfish."

Ianto laughed and Tosh added, "We all have things we don't want to share."

"His just stretch further back," Gwen said.

"And they're weirder," Owen added.

"But they're his," Ianto sighed, and added as he took another drink, "Plus I bet I get great make up sex if I apologize." And he grinned as his comment was well timed and caused Owen to spew beer out his nose.


End file.
